What is happening to Christine Gloria Fox, 87, serves as a heads-up to all retirees in the Land of Smiles. Gloria, from Lincolnshire in UK, moved to Pattaya a quarter of a century ago to join her son Jon who runs a well-known vehicle rental company in the resort. At first all was well, but then health problems intervened to spoil the envisaged golden years retreat.
Currently Gloria has serious mobility problems, which preclude her from travelling abroad, as well as serious vision deterioration. As Jon said to “inews” in the UK, “She can’t walk, she falls over, she has problems with everything due to getting older and older.” He further confirmed that his business wasn’t producing enough profit to see to the needs of his mother as well as his wife and six children.
Gloria’s sole income is around three hundred pounds, a monthly state pension from UK, which has been (and remains) frozen. She is one of the 500,000 British citizens living outside Europe who do not benefit from state pension increases. A spokesman for Frozen British Pensions, an all-party UK parliamentary group, said it was blatantly unjust for some overseas pensioners to be denied annual upgrades to which they would be entitled if they lived in UK, the EU and a handful of other countries which happen to have anachronistic bilateral arrangements.
According to Mr Fox, Gloria now regrets moving to Thailand but is confined here now as doctors refuse to give her a fit-to-fly certificate. Her tiny income all goes to pay medical bills, whilst the family is trying to raise several thousand pounds needed for an eye operation to try and improve her sight. Several expat and welfare groups, based in Thailand, have echoed the family’s claim of discrimination by the UK government. But the Department of Work and Pensions emphasizes that the situation for pensioners abroad is made clear on several government websites.
The British embassy in Thailand does not comment on individual cases, but former honorary consul Barry Kenyon said, “The net in which Mrs Fox is trapped is a very familiar one and I recall similar cases 20 years ago. The cash discrimination is clearly unjustified, but the only body which can rectify it is Parliament. So far, most MPs are sticking with the government’s line that annual state pensions are increased only when the law requires it.”
But he added that good hospital treatment in Thailand is increasingly expensive with intensive care costs now rivaling those in Europe. “Many pensioners here are uninsured or are living on too little income or are covered by dubious insurance certificates. The Thai political and health authorities are well aware of the issues and the current rules for one year retiree visas and extensions of stay are under formal review. Any changes are scheduled for introduction by September this year. As always, wait and see.”
